The invention relates to a door stop which is connected to a door hinge and is intended for motor-vehicle doors in accordance with the pre-characterizing clause of Patent claim 1.
A door stop of this type which is connected to a door hinge is disclosed, in particular, in DE-A 196 19 473.3, where it is provided that with the use of a holding device, which is connected in a rotationally secure manner to the hinge half in which the hinge pin is rotatably mounted with a running fit, is designed as a track having an at least partially annular curvature and arranged concentrically with the axis of the hinge pin, and has depressions which are formed in the axial direction of the hinge pin and form latching marks, the braking and holding bodies are designed as rolling bodies which are accommodated rotatably on a bearing spindle aligned transversely to the hinge axis, and that the braking and holding bodies interact, by being stressed by a stressing spring supported against the free end of the hinge pin, with the latching marks which are designed as depressions in the end side of a protruding collar which is arranged at least partially annularly and concentrically with the axis of the hinge pin. This design of a door stop does indeed advantageously result in a relatively small design of a hinge door stop unit which requires little installation space in the radial direction and also has the advantage of a hinge door stop unit which can be produced very cost-effectively and nevertheless operates with little noise. However, it is associated with the shortcoming that the braking device and the holding device are arranged lying one above the other and aligned co-axially with the hinge pin and above the actual gudgeon. One result of such an arrangement is that the permissible diameter of the braking device and of the holding device is essentially determined by the pre-determined ratios of the diameter of the head roll of the hinge half on the one hand, and hinge pin, on the other hand, and also that the space required for accommodating the hinge door stop unit in the vehicle body has to be taken into account. Such restricted spatial design capability of the stop has the consequence that it is relatively difficult, on the one hand, to realize a relatively large number of latching or holding positions of the door in the first place and, secondly, at the same time also to still apply a sufficient braking and holding force. In particular, problems arise when there are a relatively large number of latching or holding positions of the door, for example when there are more than two latching or holding positions of the door, and not least in view of the possibly unfavourable tolerance pairings to be taken into account, to the effect that the predetermined braking and holding positions of the door cannot be kept to sufficiently exactly or be kept to with sufficient braking and stopping force.
A door stop which has been described at the beginning is also described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,272. In this, the braking and holding device is arranged on a driven spindle parallel to the hinge axis.
JP 09-303 032 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,872, which belongs to the same patent family, describe a door stop in which a mechanical braking and holding device for a door is extended onto a second spindle, parallel to the hinge axis This is intended to give a relatively large moment of friction with a low overall size. The gear mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,872 does not contain any step-up.
The object of the invention, in a mechanical braking and holding device for a door stop, is to provide a step-up in such a manner that a multiplicity of latching and holding positions can be arranged for the door, and to improve a door stop, which is connected to a door hinge and is intended for motor-vehicles, to the effect that with the design being as small as possible and operation of the door stop being as noiseless as possible and irrespective, to the greatest possible extent, of possible deviations in tolerance, the door can be stopped exactly in a large number of latching and holding positions and the door is held with sufficient force in the respective latching and holding position, and also to provide, in a mechanical braking and holding device for the door stop, a step-up in such a manner that a multiplicity of latching and holding positions can be arranged for the door stop.
The arrangement of the present invention results firstly in the possibility of a small design of the braking and holding device of the hinge door stop unit with a multiplicity of latching and holding positions for the door stop. This results from the fact that the arrangement next to one another of the hinge pin and braking and holding device permits the placing of a step-up ratio between the rotational movement of the hinge pin and the rotational movement of the braking device or the holding device. As a consequence of such a step-up between the hinge pin and braking and holding device, it is then appropriate to form in the at least annular body forming the holding device a relatively large number of latching ramps even arranged, if appropriate, lying side by side, and thus to obtain a relatively large number of braking and holding positions of the door stop. Furthermore, the arrangement next to one another of the hinge pin and braking and holding device also affords the advantage of relatively great freedom for the arrangement for the braking and holding device and therefore in general a possibility of adapting, at least within a relatively large range, the particular spatial shape of the hinge door stop unit to the installation conditions designated on the vehicle body.
In a first and preferred embodiment, it is provided that a compression spring, which is designed as a helical spring, the braking-body carrier and the at least annular body, which forms the holding device, are arranged in a mutually concentric alignment lying one above another on a common spindle arranged in a fixed manner aligned parallel to the hinge axis and offset laterally with respect to the hinge pin. In this case, the arrangement is expediently brought about in such a manner that the braking-body carrier is supported non-rotatably and the at least annular body, which forms the holding device, is forcibly drive-connected to the hinge pin in such a manner that it is alternately driven in a rotating manner in the one or other direction as a function of the opening or closing movement of the door.
An arrangement which is to be preferred in the interests of, on the one hand, a small design and, on the other hand, of the possibility of a variable design of the spatial shape of the hinge door stop unit provides furthermore that the braking and holding device, which essentially comprises a compression spring, the braking-body carrier together with braking and holding bodies and the at least annular body, which forms the holding device, and a spindle which penetrates them, is accommodated as a whole in a recess, which is at least approximately of cup-shaped design, in the hinge half in which the hinge pin is mounted with a running fit. In this arrangement, the essentially cup-shaped recess is expediently formed by a blind hole, which is parallel to the gudgeon hole and overlaps the latter partially, at least tangentially, in the headroll, or in the region thereof, of the hinge half in which the hinge pin is mounted with a running fit.
In detail, it can then further be provided here that the body forming the holding device is formed by a disc having a circumferential toothing at least over part of its circumference. Via this circumferential toothing, the body is in meshing engagement with a circumferential toothing which is arranged complementary on the hinge pin or formed In this case, the circumferential toothing of the hinge pin which is in meshing engagement with the circumferentially toothed body forming the holding device is, if appropriate, also formed by a sleeve with a toothed ring, which is pressed onto the said hinge pin.
The braking-body carrier is advantageously supported in a rotationally secure manner on the hinge pin, specifically by means of a radially directed extension arm which is connected to the said hinge pin, in which case, a simple design is for the extension arm of the braking-body carrier to be provided with a hole-type recess and to have the hinge pin passing through it.
In conjunction with this extension arm arrangement, the possibility is then also opened up of the braking-body carrier being acted upon by two compression springs which are in mutually parallel alignment, are arranged next to each other and are formed by helical springs, in such a manner that one of the two compression springs is arranged aligned co-axially with the hinge pin and acts on the extension arm of the braking-body carrier.
The blind hole which accommodates the braking and holding device and overlaps the gudgeon hole partially, preferably tangentially, preferably opens into the outer end joint surface of the hinge half in which the hinge pin is mounted with a running fit. It is closed off from the outside by a closure plate in such a manner that the closure plate simultaneously forms a support for the spindle passing through the braking and holding device and also for the helical spring acting upon the braking-body carrier. The closure plate for the blind hole accommodating the braking and holding device is expediently designed in such a manner that it also closes the gudgeon hole, the hinge pin being supported against the outside of the closure plate by means of a holding or securing disc.
In a second embodiment, which is suitable for applying relatively high braking and holding forces, starting from a hinge door stop unit primarily designed in accordance with the features presented above, it is furthermore provided that a braking and holding device, which comprises a compression spring designed as a helical spring, a braking-body carrier and an at least annular body, which forms the holding device, and also a spindle, which passes through the said holding device, and which braking and holding device is arranged laterally offset with respect to the said hinge axis in a parallel alignment to the hinge axis on the hinge half in which the hinge pin is mounted with a running fit, is assigned an electromagnetic brake which is connected in a rotationally secure manner to the at least annular body, which, for its part, is drive-connected by meshing to the hinge pin and forms the holding device
In a further refinement, it can then also be provided here the electromagnetic brake is connected in a rotationally secure manner to the spindle passing through the braking and holding device, and the spindle for its part is connected by means of a toothed engagement in a rotationally secure manner to the at least annular body forming the holding device.
The electromagnetic brake is expediently accommodated for its part in its own housing which, for its part, is fastened in a rotationally secure manner on the outside of a closure plate which accommodates the braking and holding device and partially overlaps the gudgeon hole, and which closes the blind hole which opens into the outer end joint surface of the hinge half in which the hinge pin is mounted with a running fit.